Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Why I Decided To Write Fiction by Jeanine Kitchel @jeaninekitchel

I
write about Mexico,
the Maya and the Yucatán. I’ve always loved Mexico.
It was my home for 15 years and once I moved there and opened my bookstore,
there were just too many untold stories that needed telling.

At
first I was cajoled into writing by a publisher who wandered into the shop one
day and started quizzing me on various pyramid sites and eventually got around
to asking how I ended up there, pretty much the middle of nowhere—a fishing
village on the Mexican Caribbean coast. He asked me to write an occasional
column about Mexico
life for his publication and I obliged. As a former journalist with two
non-fiction books under my belt, travel articles were an easy assignment.

But
after my last book, I realized I could reach a wider audience by writing
fiction, and still discuss big ticket issues. Now, in 2018, I’ve watched the
creeping dominance of Mexico
cartels for more than a decade. Living in Mexico
gave me an insider’s view to the damage being done and the effect the cartels
have on every level of society.

Speaking
and reading the language is an immense benefit. If I missed a bit of gossip,
Mexican papers provided the back story—they’re newsy but a strange combination
of fluff and gore. During my early years in Mexico,
locals feared the Russian mafia. That idea may seem quaint, but it was a real
thing. That worry fell to the wayside when cartels entered the picture.
Primarily centered inland or on the west coast, Cancun’s
treasure trove of tourist dollars beckoned. Though relatively safe—as are all
major Mexican tourist destinations— a sleeping giant lies nearby. How could I
not write about it?

About the Author

Jeanine Kitchel, a former
journalist, escaped her hectic nine-to-five life in San
Francisco, bought land, and built a house in a fishing
village on the Mexican Caribbean coast. Shortly after settling in she opened a
bookstore. By this time she had become a serious Mayaphile and her love of the
Maya culture led her and her husband to nearby pyramid sites throughout
southern Mexico
and farther away to sites in Central America. In the
bookstore she entertained a steady stream of customers with their own Maya
tales to tell—from archeologists and explorers to tour guides and local
experts. At the request of a publisher friend, she began writing travel
articles about her adopted homeland for websites and newspapers. Her travel
memoir, Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya, and Maya
2012 Revealed: Demystifying the Prophecy, are available on Amazon. She has
since branched into writing fiction and her debut novel, Wheels
Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, launched May 2018.

Layla
always wanted to run the family business. But is she willing to kill for it?

When her
notorious drug lord uncle is recaptured, Layla Navarro catapults to the top of Mexico’s most powerful cartel. Groomed as his successor, Layla
knows where the bodies are buried. But not all the enemies. She strikes her
first deal to prove her mettle by accepting an offer to move two tons of
cocaine from Colombia to Cancun by jet. Things go sideways during a stopover in Guatemala whe Layla unexpectedly uncovers a human trafficking ring.
Plagued by self-doubt, she must fight off gangsters, outsmart corrupt
officials, and navigate the minefield of Mexican machismo. Even worse, she
realizes she’s become a target for every rival cartel seeking to undermine her
new standing. From her lush base in the tropics, she’s determined to retain her
dominant position in Mexico’s criminal world. If she can stay alive.